Local vet’s story of survival already bestseller – KING5.com

SAMMAMISH, Wash. — A western Washington veteran is already on Amazon’s bestseller list – and the book isn’t even out yet.

Jimmy Settle was a member of Alaska’s 212th Pararescue Unit. His new book, “Never Quit,” is a true story he co-authored with Don Rearden. It explains the rigorous training he overcame to become a Special Forces Operator. The book comes out March 7.

“You have to be just as good as those Navy Seals, but a little bit better ‘cause you’ve got to go where they got hurt and you’ve got to be able to get in there,” he said Saturday in his Sammamish living room.

The book also details when Settle was shot in the head during a 2010 mission in Afghanistan. Settle was later interviewed by NBC’s Lester Holt days later.

With his injury bandaged up with bullet fragments still in his head days later, Settle went back into the action.

Settle said he made up his mind while watching his unit from the hospital area.

“Every time my friends come in they just have more blood on them, more carnage and trauma and you can just see it in their faces and I was like, ‘I’m not going to sit on the side and just watch this happen,’” he recalled. “I was pretty apprehensive going back in, but I did. I saddled up and it was what I wanted to do. It’s why I was here. It’s why I was there and it’s why I did it.”

Earlier this week, Settle received some help promoting his book from filmmaker and Youtube personality Casey Neistat.

The Youtube clip had 1.4 million views as of Saturday afternoon. In the clip, it explains Neistat met Settle in Afghanistan.

“The last 48 hours have been nuts,” beamed Settle. “Since my friend Casey Niestat put that video up, interest for the book has just exploded.”

Settle said he wrote the book to inspire others, while revealing what it’s like to be a pararescue jumper, or PJ.

He explained once he came back to America, he experienced depression.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong. I was living in my car in the parking lot in the grocery store on base,” Settle said. “It was kind of, sort of frustrating to go from hero to zero and have everything I worked for my life kind of being taken away. I had lost the ability to become a PJ.”

Settle said he has since focused on having a positive outlook.

“It was trying to break the negative cycle and I had a lot of people in my own corner help out,” he said. “I found that the longer I stayed there (in a dark place), the worse it got, once I flipped back over to try and be positive, it’s kind of like a self-feeding cycle. You put that smile on your face and somebody else smiles.”

Jimmy Settle will be at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park (17171 Bothell Way NE) on March 14.